Electric apparatus and an operation method thereof

ABSTRACT

The present invention discloses an electric apparatus and operation method thereof. The electric apparatus includes: display unit to display the output content from said electric apparatus; operation unit used to operate said electric apparatus; the apparatus further includes: the primary indication unit, when the primary indication unit is started up, the operation unit is in visible status and otherwise the operation unit is in invisible status. The design of the present invention improves the front visual effect and the interactive performance of the electrical apparatus.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/596,210, filed on Jan. 13, 2015, which is a Continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 12/073,081, filed on Feb. 29, 2008, whichclaims priority to Chinese Application No. 200710016606.4, filed on Jun.26, 2007, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein in theirentirety by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an electric apparatus, and morespecifically to the hidden operation unit structure of the electricapparatus and the operation method thereof.

BACKGROUND

With the constant improvement of the consumption and appreciationlevels, the appearance of the conventional electric apparatus can notmeet the aesthetic requirement of the consumers.

Although more and more fashionable elements are introduced in theappearance design of home electric apparatus with the appearance ofliquid crystal television, plasma TV, liquid crystal display, DVD withliquid crystal panel, and so on, and the auxiliary equipments of allkinds of electric apparatus gradually apply hidden design elements, thesound boxes, connection ports and remote controller are designed in thehidden part, or all function keys are designed to as touching-type,therefore, the appearance structure of the panel of the electricapparatus is simplified and the number of the unnecessary componentsdisplayed on the front of the electric apparatus is reduced.

At present, the key-presses of all kinds of home electric apparatusstill can be directly seen at the obverse side. They manifest outsidethe frame at the obverse side, or the color of the case is designed notconsistent with that of the panel, therefore, the position of thekey-presses needed to be operated can be easily found and distinguishedclearly when the operator wants to press the key-presses.

However, the above design has a problem, that is since the key-pressesare exposed within the line of sight, it affects the visual impact ofthe appearance of the electric apparatus on the consumers, andespecially for the electric apparatus which takes a long time to enjoy,the disadvantage of the exposed key-presses is evident, for example, forTV or computer screen, long time and short distance watching will makeany obstacle on the front of the screen affect the line of sight.

CONTENT OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to offer an electric apparatus toimprove visual effect, especially the visual effect of the appearance ofthe electric apparatus.

Another object of the present invention is to offer an electricapparatus with hidden key-presses design, which simplifies the panel ofthe electric apparatus and maximally reduces the impact on the line ofsight.

Still another object of the present invention is to offer an electricapparatus with improved interactive performance.

In order to achieve the above objects, the present invention providesthe following technical scheme:

An electric apparatus, which includes:

A display unit, used to display the output content from said electricapparatus;

An operation unit, used to operate said electric apparatus;

Which is characterized in that, the electric apparatus also includes:

When the primary indication unit is started up, the operation unit; isin visible status and otherwise the operation unit is in invisiblestatus.

Preferably, said electric apparatus also includes:

The secondary indication unit, used to indicate the working condition ofthe electric apparatus;

The triggering unit, when triggered, said primary indication unit isstarted up, otherwise said primary indication unit is not started up;

Said secondary indication unit is the triggering unit.

Preferably, said secondary indication unit can be used as the triggeringunit to control the condition of said primary indication unit when thepower source of the electric apparatus is in working condition.

Preferably, said primary indication unit is LED, said LED is fixedlyconnected with said display module; said operation unit includes severaltouching-type key-presses.

Preferably, the number of said LEDs is the same as that of saidtouching-type key-presses and their mounting positions correspond toeach other.

Preferably, said display unit is equipped with a translucent shell, andthe color of said operation unit is similar to or the same as saidtranslucent shell.

Preferably, said operation unit is located after of the said translucentshell, it is fixedly connected with said display unit.

Preferably, the light emitted from said primary indication unit isdifferent from that the color of the translucent shell.

Preferably, both the translucent shell and the operation unit are blackand light from the primary indication unit is blue.

Preferably, each indication time of said primary indication unit isdetermined.

In addition, the present invention further offers a operation method ofan electric apparatus. The technical scheme is:

Said electric apparatus includes:

A display unit, used to display the output content from said electricapparatus;

An operation unit, used to operate said electric apparatus;

The primary indication unit;

The method includes the following steps: start up the primary indicationunit, said operation unit is in visible status, said operation unit canbe operated then; otherwise, said operation unit is in invisible status.

With the technical scheme offered in the present invention, thesecondary operation unit is hidden and can not be observed within theline of sight when the electric apparatus is in the normal workingcondition and the powered off condition, and the secondary operationunit is only illumined by the triggering unit when the secondaryoperation unit is needed to adjust the electric apparatus, whichmaximizes the terseness of the appearance of the electric apparatus andincreases the interaction between the consumers and the electricapparatus. And the present structure of the electric apparatus isfurther fully utilized through the integration of the secondaryindication unit and the triggering unit.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a localized effect view in accordance with the preferredembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an illustration when the operation unit in FIG. 1 is ininvisible status;

FIG. 3 is the structural diagram in accordance with the preferredembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a circuit schematic diagram offered to implement the presentinvention.

THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

The electric apparatus offered in the present invention will bedescribed in further detail with reference to the accompanying figuresand the embodiments.

The present invention can be applied to a variety of electric apparatussuch as CRT TV, LCD TV, plasma TV, LCD computer, display, DVD, and soon. Its effect is especially evident for TV and computer displays whichtake a long time for the eyes to enjoy the content of the screen. Fordescription, the LCD TV will be used in the preferred embodiment of thepresent invention to describe the design and the implementation of thepresent invention, yet the present invention will not be limited to theapplication of the preferred embodiment.

Refer to FIG. 1, 2, and FIG. 3, the electric apparatus in the figures isLCD TV, wherein, 1 is LCD TV, 2 is the translucent shell, 3 is theoperation unit, 4 is the secondary indication unit, 5 is the powersupply ON/OFF device, and 6 is the display unit.

In this preferred embodiment, the display unit 6 is equipped with theoperation unit 3, the secondary indication unit 4 and the power supplyON/OFF device 5, while the display unit 6, the translucent shell 2 andother components (such as sound boxes not shown in the figures)constitute the LCD TV 1.

Of course, the equipped positions of the power supply ON/OFF device 5,the secondary indication unit 4 and the operation unit 3 and the displayunit 6 can be changed, wherein the translucent shell 2 is square, but itis not limited to this, and the display unit here is the LCD screen andthe related fittings.

When the LCD TV 1 is in working condition or non-working condition, asshown in FIG. 2, the position of the operation unit and whether it islocated on the front of the TV can not be determined, only the powersupply ON/OFF device 5 and the secondary indication unit 4 can be seenfrom the front of the TV, wherein the secondary indication unit 4 is anon-off indicator light and also the triggering unit used to trigger theprimary indication unit. It is certain that the triggering unit can alsobe equipped with another triggering switch while not use the secondaryindication unit 4. When the secondary indication unit 4 is electricallyconnected with the primary indication unit, as shown in FIG. 4, theprimary indication unit is six LEDs which emit blue light. The mountingposition of the primary indication unit corresponds with the operationunit 3, and the operation unit 3 is six touching-type key-presses whichrespectively correspond with the menu key, the signal source key, thevolume “+” key, the volume “−” key, channel “+” key and channel “−” key.With the operation unit 3, the pattern, volume and the channel of the TVcan be adjusted.

When the power supply ON/OFF device 5 is connected, the secondaryindication unit is illumined and the LCD TV 1 starts to work. The remotecontroller (not shown in the Figure) or the operation unit 3 in the LCDTV 1 can be used to operate the LCD TV 1 when it is desired. Since inmost cases, the operation of the LCD TV 1 is performed by the remotecontroller, the use frequency of the operation unit is relatively low,and the visible operation unit will cause relatively large influence inthe consumers if they watch TV for a long time at the visible positionin the front of the TV.

Referring to FIG. 1, when the LCD TV 1 needs to be operated via theoperation unit 3, the primary indication unit (not shown in the Figure)electrically connected with the secondary indication unit 4 is lightenedby switching on the secondary indication unit 4, the primary indicationunit lightens its vicinity, therefore the key-press sign silk-screenprinted on the translucent shell 2 is illumined, which makes theoperator can determine the position of the key-presses and distinguishthe function of each key-press and makes the operation of the LCD TV 1conveniently. The LCD TV 1 shown in FIG. 1 omits the positions of thepower supply ON/OFF device 5 and the secondary indication unit 4 tointuitively embody the effect of the primary indication unit illuminingthe operation unit 3. Of course that the primary indication unit canalso apply only a diode or similar indication device, such as lasergenerator, and the light omitted from the diode is blue or other colorwhich is largely different from those of the operation unit 3 and thetranslucent shell 2. The translucent shell 2 is made of ABS, PC andcolor master batch, and its color is black. The color of the 6key-presses is black or some other color relatively close to that of thetranslucent shell 2, and the translucent shell 2 is transparent.Therefore, after the diodes are illumined, the sign silk-screen printedon the translucent shell 2 can be lightened. The key-presses are locatedafter of the translucent shell 2.

Since when the consumers want to operate the operation unit 3, thetriggering unit needs to be triggered to control the working conditionof the primary indication unit to show the position of the operationunit 3 and the function of each key. After a certain time interval (suchas 10 seconds), the primary indication unit is automaticallyextinguished and the keys are again in the invisible status, whichincreases the interactive performance between the LCD TV 1 and theconsumers.

The time interval here that the primary indication unit is illumined isfixed, which can be set as 10 s, 20 s or some other more appropriatetime, and the time interval can be set through the circuit so that itcan be adjusted by operating the operation unit 3 when it is desired.

Referring to FIG. 4, wherein KEY 1 is the power supply ON/OFF device 5,KEY 2, KEY 3, KEY 4, KEY 5, KEY 6 and KEY 7 are respectively the menukey, the signal source key, the volume “+” key, the volume “−” key, thechannel “+” key and the channel “−” key, and they constitute theoperation unit 3.

Operational principle is as below: the 7th pin of the socket XP2 isKEY_STANDBY_POWER, which is the power supply +5 of the power supplyON/OFF device, and also the power supply of the chips U1, U2, U3, U4 andTS02. When the LCD TV 1 is in the normal working condition, the outputfrom the 10^(th) pin of U4 is high level and V4 is properly conducted,and D18, D19 and D20 properly lightening.

When the user touches the power supply ON/OFF device, the output fromthe 10^(th) pin of U4 is instantaneously changed to low level and V4 isinstantaneously non-conducted, D18, D19 and D20 are instantaneouslyextinguished. Meanwhile, the CPU of the LCD TV 1 set IO2 as high leverafter it receives the low level signal of IO1, V8 is normally conducted,Vgs of Q1 is −5V, Q1 is conducted and D1-D17 LCDs are supplied with +5V,and the other six corresponding key-presses are illumined to irradiate.At the same time, after the CPU receives the low level signal of theIO1, it starts up the timer to time and the time is set by the user bythe TV menu and generally is 10 s, 20 s, and so on. Here the user cansee the silk-screen on the front of each key and all kinds ofadjustments of the LCD TV 1 are performed according to the prompt of thesilk-screen. When the timing reaches the predetermined time, the IO2 isset as low lever by the CPU, V8 is non-conducted, Vgs of the Q1 is 0Vand Q1 is non-conducted. +5V is not supplied to the LCDs D1-D17, andcorrespondingly, the other six lights of the key-presses areextinguished.

The above description is the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, yet the present invention is not limited to this. Anyobviously change thought by those skilled in the art and somemodifications and improvements without departure from the principle ofthe present invention should be fell in the scope of the presentinvention.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An electric apparatus, which includes: ahousing; a display arranged within the housing configured to visuallyoutput content from the electric apparatus; an operation circuitarranged within the housing and separate from the display that iscoupled with user input controls that facilitate controlling aspects ofthe electric apparatus; a primary indication circuit configured toilluminate the user input controls of the operation circuit such thatwhen the primary indication circuit is in an illuminated state, the userinput controls of the operation circuit are visible to a user of theelectric apparatus, and when the primary indication circuit is in anunilluminated state and the display is outputting content, a visibilityof the user input controls to the user of the electric apparatus isreduced.
 2. The electric apparatus of claim 1 further comprising: asecondary indication circuit configured to indicate a working conditionof the electric apparatus; and a triggering circuit configured to startthe primary indication circuit when triggered; wherein the secondaryindication circuit corresponds to the triggering circuit.
 3. Theelectric apparatus of claim 2, wherein the secondary indication circuitis further configured to control the primary indication unit to enterthe started up state when the power source of the electric apparatus isin a working condition.
 4. The electric apparatus of claim 1, whereinthe primary indication circuit corresponds to an LED that is fixedlyconnected with a display module; and wherein user input controls theoperation circuit correspond to a plurality of touching-type keys. 5.The electric apparatus of claim 4, further comprising a plurality ofLEDs, wherein a quantity of the LEDs matches a quantity of thetouching-type keys and respective mounting positions of the plurality ofLEDs correspond to respective positions of the plurality oftouching-type keys.
 6. The electric apparatus of claim 1, wherein thedisplay comprises a translucent shell, wherein a color of the operationcircuit matches a color of the translucent shell.
 7. The electricapparatus of claim 6, wherein the operation circuit is located behindthe translucent shell and is fixedly connected with the display.
 8. Theelectric apparatus of claim 6, wherein a color of light emitted from theprimary indication circuit is different from the color of thetranslucent shell.
 9. The electric apparatus of claim 6, wherein thecolor of the translucent shell and the color of the operation circuitare black, and wherein light provided by the primary indication circuitis blue.
 10. The electric apparatus of claim 1, is characterized in thateach indication time of the primary indication circuit is determined.11. The electric apparatus of claim 1, wherein the visibility of theuser input controls is reduced to the point where it is no longervisible.
 12. A method for controlling an electric apparatus comprising:providing a housing, a display arranged within the housing configured todisplay the output content from the electric apparatus, an operationcircuit arranged within the housing and separate from the display thatis coupled with user input controls configured to operate the electricapparatus and a primary indication circuit: the method comprising; ifthe primary indication circuit is in a started up state, controlling theoperation circuit to make the user input controls become visible to auser of the electric apparatus; and if the primary indication circuit isnot in a started up state and the electric apparatus is in a workingcondition, controlling the operation circuit to reduce a visibility ofthe user input controls to the user of the electric apparatus.
 13. Themethod according to claim 12, wherein the visibility of the user inputcontrols is reduced to the point where it is no longer visible.
 14. Acomputing device, comprising: a housing; a display arranged within thehousing configured to visually output content from the handheld device;an operation circuit arranged within the housing and separate from thedisplay that is coupled with user input controls that facilitatecontrolling aspects of the computing device; a primary indicationcircuit configured illuminate the user input controls of the operationcircuit such that when the primary indication circuit is in anilluminated state, the user input controls of the operation circuit arevisible to a user of the computing device, and when the primaryindication circuit is in an unilluminated state and the display isoutputting content, a visibility of the user input controls to the userof the computing device is reduced.
 15. The computing device accordingto claim 14, wherein the visibility of the user input controls isreduced to the point where it is no longer visible.